The present invention relates generally to satellite command systems
and methods, and more particularly, to a satellite command system and
method that provides satellite commanding using remotely-controlled
modulation of satellite on-board telemetry parameters.
The assignee of the present invention manufactures and deploys
communication satellites that orbit the Earth. Typically, the satellites contains
a plurality of central processing units (CPUs). It is possible that a failure may
occur while a satellite is in orbit that renders one of the CPU's normal
command pathways unusable. In the past, in the event of such a normal
command pathway failure, the affected CPU could not be used. There is a
need for a solution to this possible problem.
The present invention provides for a satellite command system and
method that provides satellite commanding using remotely-controlled
modulation of satellite on-board telemetry parameters. The present invention
is useful after a failure of the normal on-board command pathway, wherein
command information flows from command receivers to bit detectors, to
command decoders, and finally to a computer (CPU). The present invention
creates alternate command pathways through novel use of the basic
spacecraft control electronics (SCE) architecture already on board the
satellite. The present invention does not require any equipment specifically
dedicated to this task.
The basic spacecraft control electronics already performs the task of
gathering data from equipment distributed over the spacecraft for telemetry.
The crux of the present invention is to cause the CPU to interpret certain
patterns of variation of telemetry quantities over time as command
information. To link ground controllers with the satellite, the particular
telemetry item used must be manipulatable from the ground. Equipment that
is sensitive to RF waves is most convenient for this purpose.
In an exemplary command system and method, the particular on-board
telemetry parameters used happened to be associated with command
input equipment but the traditional command input capability of that
equipment was not operative. The satellite has a plurality of redundant
processor units that are coupled to the command input equipment by way of
a respective plurality of buses and command input buses that provide
redundant command pathways to each of the redundant processor units.
The redundant processor units respectively process the received commands
transferred to them by way of the respective bus controllers and buses to
control the satellite. The redundant processor units are also coupled to a
plurality of distributed data collection units. The distributed data collection
units perform command distribution and telemetry data collection.
The system and method of the present invention bypass the presence
of a hardware failure that affects the command pathway of the processor
units. Software is provided on each of the redundant processor units that
creates separate DMA command pathways between each of the redundant
processor units and the distributed data collection units.
To use the novel command pathway, a command translator is used at
a ground station to translate a command that is to be implemented on the
satellite into a form ready for modulation. The translated command is then
superimposed on a signal that will be measured as telemetry data on-board
the satellite. Thus, the command is generated and modulated on the ground
to produce data that is available to the CPU through its telemetry collection
functions.
Software implemented in processor units recognizes the modulation,
and processes it to reconstruct the command. The processor unit then
executes the command. Each of the redundant processor units can thus
process the commands received to control the satellite.
The satellite command links, primary or redundant, are replicated
without requiring additional, or any, dedicated satellite on-board RF
command link receiving hardware. The present invention thus increases
satellite command pathway redundancy and thereby improves satellite
reliability, without any added costs in mass, power, or on-board hardware.
The present invention was developed, and a specific satellite design
change was implemented, in response to an in-orbit failure involving one of
an orbiting satellite's two main on-board MIL-STD-1750 central processing
units (CPUs). The failure rendered the affected CPU's normal command
input programmed input/output (PIO) bus unusable, while that CPU's direct
memory access (DMA) input/output capabilities, including its MIL-STD-1553
data bus, were still fully functional.
The in-orbit failure was corrected using the present invention. In
particular, using the present invention, virtually all command link capability
was restored to the in-orbit failed main central processing unit, including
command link pathway redundancy.
The various features and advantages of the present invention may be
more readily understood with reference to the following detailed description
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference
numerals designate like structural elements, and in which:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary satellite
command system in accordance with the principles of the present invention; Fig. 2 illustrates data flow using the satellite command system of Fig.
1; Fig. 3 illustrates timing performed in the satellite command system of
Fig. 1; Fig. 4 illustrates a typical data structure of command words used in the
present invention; and Fig. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates an exemplary method in
accordance with the principles of the present invention.
Referring to the drawing figures, Fig. 1 is a block diagram that
illustrates an exemplary command system 10 in accordance with the
principles of the present invention for use in commanding a satellite 30. The
present invention provides any satellite 30 having a suitable telemetry and
command architecture with the ability to implement additional command links
(added command pathways) without any of the costs of additional satellite
on-board command hardware. The ability to reconfigure the command
pathways via uploaded software modifications is particularly valuable.
The present invention has been implemented in an on-orbit satellite
30, whose architecture is shown in Fig. 1, that uses redundant MIL-STD-1750
CPU-based processor units 15a, 15b as its primary on-board processors.
The processor units 15a, 15b are referred to as advanced spaceborne
processor subassemblies (ASPS). The processor units 15a, 15b utilize a
command input bus 11a, shown as a processor stack local (PSL) bus, to
communicate with a ground station 31 by way of satellite command input
equipment 11 (which includes receivers, demodulators, and bit
synchronizers, etc.). The ground station 31 comprises a command translator
32 that is used to convert commands into corresponding sets of modulated
bits that are transmitted (uplinked) to the satellite 31 for execution. The
processor units 15a, 15b utilize direct memory access (DMA) to communicate
with MIL-STD-1553 serial input/output (I/O) bus controllers in distributed data
collection units (DCUs) 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d.
Command trays 12a, 12b shown in Fig. 1 each include a bit detector,
synchronizer, address decoder, error detector, and high level command
decoder (HLCD). The redundant MIL-STD-1750 processor units 15a, 15b
also use separate DMA-based serial I/O buses 18 or link 18 to communicate
with each other. DC-DC power converters for the processor units 15a, 15b
are also typically employed, but are not shown in Fig. 1.
In the satellite 30 illustrated in Fig. 1, telemetry data from virtually all
satellite subsystems are sampled by the distributed data collection units
(DCUs) 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d and provided to the processor units 15a, 15b by
way of a MIL-STD-1553 data bus 17. The MIL-STD-1750 processor units
15a, 15b process and format all satellite telemetry before sending it back to
the distributed data collection units 16 for modulation and ultimately for RF
transmission to the ground station.
The overall concept implemented by the present invention is as
follows. Normally, certain data is measured by DCUs 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d on-board
the satellite 30 and subsequently transmitted (downlinked) to the
ground station 31 for evaluation. Typical data measured by the DCUs 16a,
16b, 16c, 16d includes HLCD status bits, on/off status, power or current
draw, certain RF parameters, and certain temperatures, and the like.
The present invention utilizes telemetry data measurements by the
DCUs 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d as a pathway to uplink commands to the satellite
30. Of course, the particular data used in the command pathway must be
manipulatable from the ground. The data can come from any DCU 16a, 16b,
16c, 16d as shown in Fig. 2.
In general, data measured by the distributed data collection unit 16 are
manipulated by the ground station 31 using the command translator 32 to
generate a set of telemetry parameter changes at the satellite 30
corresponding to each desired command. The processor units 15a, 15b on-board
the satellite 30 are programmed to form commands from each
uplinked set of (sequential) telemetry parameter changes.
In particular, at the ground station 31, a command that is to be
implemented on the satellite 30 is first translated by the command translator
32 into a predetermined sequence that is ready for modulation. The
translated command information is then uplinked to the satellite 30 by
modulating a quantity that can be measured on-board through the telemetry
collection process. Software implemented in the processor units 15a, 15b is
designed to monitor DMA data pathways 19a, 19b from the high level
command decoder (HLCD) in the command trays 12a, 12b by way of the
distributed data collection unit 16 to the processor unit 15a. The software
processes the modulated telemetry data to reconstruct the original command.
The command is then implemented by the processor unit 15a.
An exemplary algorithm used to generate a command is as follows.
The modulated set of bits may be generated using an on-off keying (OOK)
RF carrier with a symbol rate less than the rate at which the telemetry data is
measured by the DCUs 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, divided by four. Inverted bi-phase-L
signaling is preferably used, such as is shown in Fig. 3.
The A/D input sample is quantized to N bits upon receipt by the
receivers in the satellite command input equipment 11. Once the command
data is again in a serial binary data stream then command frame
synchronization, error detection and decoding are performed completely in
software. If all these checks are successful then the command is processed
by the normal command processing software, as if the command had been
received and detected via the normal command receiving hardware.
In a reduced-to-practice implementation of the present invention, the
inherent software access to all satellite telemetry data and the DMA link 18
between the redundant processor units 15a, 15b are both used to provide
new redundant command pathways 19a, 19b into the command software of a
processor unit 15a. The command pathway failure is illustrated by the break
in the PSL bus coupled to the first processing unit 15a. The two separate
new DMA command pathways 19a, 19b were implemented and were
independent from the normal programmed input/output (PIO) command input
bus (PSL bus) of the failed MIL-STD-1750 processor unit 15a.
By adding new input command data sensing software routines into the
software operating in the processor units 15a, 15b, sequential data bits
comprising command words were detected. This additional command input
software looked for certain specific changes and patterns in several specific
telemetry values that could be directly controlled by ground station actions.
When a complete command word was detected and assembled a telemetry
source (i.e., in either or both of the processor units 15a, 15b), it is passed into
pre-existing command processing software for execution. Using multiple
separate telemetry inputs from redundant external hardware units provided
new redundant command pathways for both of the processor units 15a, 15b.
In this first design implemented using the commanding concept of the
present invention, two digital and four analog telemetry parameters were
selected, which were easily controlled by the satellite's ground command
station. The actual digital telemetry parameters used in this implementation
included multiple bits each, all of which the ground station could precisely
affect and control. The analog telemetry parameters were selected because
they could be easily controlled by ground transmitter uplink drive level
modulation. However in the basic design concept described herein, any
telemetry parameter for which the ground station has positive control may be
processed in the telemetry and command systems on-board software to
extract command information. Suitable telemetry may include digital or
analog values of on-board RF equipment that are subject to change in
response to ground station actions. Examples of ground station controllable
parameters that affect satellite telemetry parameters include a broad
bandwidth repeater channel's uplink drive level or a frequency locked
receiver channel's automatic gain control level.
In summary, the present invention provides for the on-board digital
signal processing of satellite telemetry parameters to extract satellite
command information from telemetry values that are controlled (directly or
indirectly) by satellite operators.
The present invention results in a lower or slower command baud rate
than a satellite's normal or typical command link's baud rate. However with
design implementation care, or with the early satellite design planning for this
capability, a very useable command rate and a quite acceptable command
error rate can be achieved. It is also possible to utilize the commanding
concept of the present invention as the only command link, or links, for a
satellite if an absolute minimum satellite hardware telemetry and command
equipment configuration is desired.
Any satellite architecture having telemetry collection and command
processing accomplished within the same processor unit(s) 15a, 15b can
make use of the present invention. If separate command and telemetry data
buses are used within the processor unit(s) 15a, 15b, for example, using
"normal" commanding via the command input bus 11a and telemetry via
direct memory access (DMA), then the satellite's commanding reliability is
improved using the present invention. All typical ground system command
verification modes may be implemented using the present invention.
However, depending on the satellite's specific design, there will be a
decrease in the actual ground verified effective commanding rate.
The present invention was first implemented by uploading changes to
software in the satellite's main processor units 15a, 15b, re-establishing
prime and redundant command pathways into the failed processor unit 15a.
For the purposes of completeness, Fig. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates an
exemplary command method 40 in accordance with the principles of the
present invention for use in controlling a satellite 30. The method 40
comprises the following steps.
Software is implemented in processor units 15a, 15b on the satellite 30
that sets up 21 DMA command pathways 19a, 19b to the processor units
15a, 15b that are operable in the event that one or the normal command
pathways fails. In the event that a failure is detected 22 that interrupts the
command pathway to one of the redundant processor units 15a, 15b, a
command translator 32 is used at a ground station 31 to translate 23 a
command that is to be implemented on the satellite 30 into a form that is
ready for modulation. The translated command is then uplinked 25 to the
satellite 30 by modulating a quantity that can be measured on-board through
the telemetry collection process...
The software implemented in processor units 15a, 15b recognizes 26
the modulation when received on the satellite 30. The software processes
the modulation to reconstruct 27 the original command. The reconstructed
original command is passed 28 to the processor unit 15a. The command is
then processed 29 by the processor unit 15a.
Thus, a satellite command system and method that provides satellite
commanding using remotely-controlled modulation of satellite on-board
telemetry parameters have been disclosed. It is to be understood that the
described embodiments are merely illustrative of some of the many specific
embodiments that represent applications of the principles of the present
invention. Clearly, numerous and other arrangements can be readily devised
by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.